Some huge breaking news at about 1 p.m. was that Placido Polanco is NOT in today’s Game 1 lineup. He’s been scratched with back spasms, Wilson Valdez will take his place. This is a pretty significant blow heading into what everyone believed was a very winnable series. The question now becomes, how much harder will this be for the Phillies without arguably their best contact hitter in Polly.

Polanco hasn’t seen Reds starter Edinson Volquez all that much (1-for-2 lifetime), but he is truly an important component of a lineup that has struggled with consistency all season. Let’s hope with the off day tomorrow that Polly can make a return for Game 2.

Let’s also try to get past the bad news and focus on the good: Roy Halladay pitches today. He lost his last start against the Reds on June 30. He was touched up for 13 hits over eight innings. This was also during June when Halladay struggle with a couple of rough outings. He met with the Reds again in July and shut them down over nine innings by allowing no runs. However, he left with a no-decision because Travis Wood was in the midst of a perfect game. The Phillies came away with a 1-0 win in 10 innings, and Doc narrowly missed another complete game shutout.

Which Halladay will the Reds see today? If the end of the regular season is a precursor to today, they’ll get a charged-up ace looking to make a name for himself on the biggest stage in baseball.

Edinson Volquez has two career starts against the Phillies, both coming in 2008. He allowed only seven hits and one earned run over 12 1/3 innings, going 2-0. The 27 year-old is coming in having had three good outings to finish September. However, late in July, he struggled so much that he was sent down to Triple-A to figure some things out. He’s done that, and then some.

Against lefties, Volquez is having his way. Left-handers are batting just .229 against him, 44 points lower than righties. That obviously hinders Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and Raul Ibanez a bit. But still, this is Volquez’s first taste of postseason baseball, can he rise to the challenge of the two-time NL champs?

On the flip side, Roy Halladay is also making his first career playoff appearance, but the feeling is that he’s more than ready.

It’s the start of another round of October baseball for the Phillies. Can they make it three striaght trips to the World Series? Tonight, the first chapter of the story will be written.

Well, it wouldn’t be the 2010 postseason without an unexpected starting line-up change. I’m telling people right now, don’t panic. This is still a very familiar line-up. The fans are familiar with this line-up and, most importantly, the players are familiar with this line-up.

Valdez will be fine. He’d probably feel stranger warming the bench and coming in for relief later on at this point. Exxon’s proven he can be trusted. Hopefully, Polanco can start game 2.

The most unfortunate part of all this is that it puts the Dobber one man closer to a bat in his hands.

I think it means Jimmy can bend over, Polanco can’t. PP has been playing most of the season with a fractured elbow, bone chips. He’s as tough as it gets, for him to come out must mean serious pain. I wouldn’t be surprised if he misses Friday also.

Jimmy at lead-off means he’s healthy. Charlie takes his share of abuse (nationally and locally, even on this site), but I fully believe Rollins would not be at lead off if he couldn’t go full out. Even Dobb’s Mom doesn’t want to see him starting.

Replace Feliz with Valdez, and this is the same line-up that did it in 2008, with better pitching.

Rollins was not originally scheduled to lead off because Manuel thought he was not yet at full speed to steal bases. With Polanco’s injury, I guess he had no choice but to use Rollins at the top of the lineup.

Just when I thought Charlie was going to make the right call… he’s forced to switch things up.

“Originally, Shane Victorino was going to lead off, with Polanco hitting second and Jimmy Rollins batting seventh. Instead, Manuel moved Rollins into the leadoff hole, hit Victorino second and inserted Wilson Valdez at third base, batting eighth.”

J-roll batting seventh, Shane leadoff was the way to go. Get better soon Polanco!

Surprised about Polly just turn the Tv on an was like what happen now…is he going to be back game 2…as a person who deals with back spasms now an then its a pain in the back…sometimes its a day or two last time it lasted me a month…

I meant, Jeff (what’s with all the tools showing up tonight?), that it’s in our interest to light him up another inning or two. We haven’t scored since he went out and the Reds are a late-game rally team.

HELL YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA SIMPLY THE GREATEST POSTSEASON PITCHING I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY 32 YEARS!!!!!!!!!

I am not a Phillies fan, but am a baseball fan. What Roy Halladay did was great for baseball (period.). He started off the playoffs on the right foot. This is the most I have been into the playoffs in a long time.

Also, the play by Ruiz on the last out was incredible. I hope he gets some credit for making a difficult play. He is an unsung hero on a stacked team. Gotta love players like him.